Whitland woke up against the adamant protests of his body feeling strangely content. His whole front side somehow felt cold and warm at the same time in a way that he found overall very pleasant. Something shifted on his chest, eliciting more of these feelings.
Trying to find the source, he opened his eyes and found Serana in his arms. Her bright eyes were wide awake and studying him intently. He tightened his arms around her and whispered in her ear.
"Did we do something yesterday that I don't know about?"
A shiver went through her at his words, but there was a laugh in her voice when she replied, "Nothing happened, I went to lie down and while you were asleep you somehow managed to trap me in your arms. I didn't want to wake you, so I stayed put."
"Mmm…Sorry about that." But his arms remained where they were.
"I don't mind." She didn't move.
They stayed like that, soaking in each other's presence and watching the sun rise from under the shade.
"We should go." murmured Serana, her eyes lightly closed.
"We should." he agreed. If they wanted to make any sort of progress, now would be the time.
Neither moved.
A strand of Serana's pitch black hair had fallen in front of her face and he reached out and tucked it behind her ear. Her eyes snapped open. She watched him as he brushed his fingers through her hair, feeling the softness of it.
Eventually, both separated reluctantly from each other. They knew they were killing daylight and needed to get going. They were only a day's way from Fort Dawnguard and needed to hurry. They were in twice the danger now with Auriel's bow in their possession.
Serana gave him back his shirt, which he gladly put on, and started handing him the pieces of his armor. She paused once she came to his gauntlets, and studied them.
"I have never seen armor like this, what kind is it?" she asked.
"Nightingale." he answered and took them from her.
"What is a Nightingale?"
He gave her a calculating glance. "A Nightingale means you are part of the inner circle of the Thieves Guild." he said as he finished putting on his armor.
She seemed surprised. "You're part of the Thieves Guild? I thought you were supposed to be 'honorable' and all that."
"A thief can have honor."
Her mouth twitched, but she chose not to comment. "So you say. Who is the guild master now? Or are you not allowed to tell me?" She couldn't fight her smile as she jeered at him.
His eyebrow rose. "You're looking at him."
Her eyes widened in shock before the smile was back in place. "First, I learned you were the Arch-Mage when we were searching for the moth priest. Then when we had to fight Durnehviir and I find out you're the Dragonborn, who apparently saved the world. Now the Thieves Guild Master? Anything else you've got to surprise me with?"
"I'm Harbinger of the Companions."
"Are you a werewolf?" she asked startled. Whitland buckled his sword on and they started walking down the road together in the direction of the fort.
"I was for quite awhile, but later on I cured myself."
"Why?"
"I was brought into this world as a mortal, and I wished to remain that way. I have been able to overcome any challenges just as I am, without any supernatural abilities." he smiled and added. "Unless you count the fact that I am the Dragonborn."
"Is that all?"
"The only other thing I'm in is the Imperial Legion."
Let me guess, you're the general?" she teased
"A legate actually."
She shook her head. "You get around quite a bit." They walked a bit in silence. Serana suddenly looked up from her hood to stare at the sun with distaste. "The sun is really bright today, you know that?"
"Mmm..." he said mildly. She came to be quite the grumbler when it came to the weather.
She didn't seem to notice his lack of enthusiasm. "If you'd been more alert, your horse would still be alive and we'd be at Dawnguard already, inside and away from the sun. You should be more careful in the future."
"I'll keep that in mind, thank you." he said dryly.
"We should start resting in the morning and walking at night instead. No sun, it's just nice and dark." she continued, oblivious to his tone.
"You're impossible to travel with!" he exclaimed, but he was smiling all the same when he said it.
She huffed and for a few minutes their walking was done in a blissful silence free of complaints. "Now Serana, don't go quiet on me, but we've been all over Skyrim together, I think I know by now your opinion on the sun." he said, worried he had offended her somehow.
"I couldn't do that, you'd miss the sound of my voice," she said lightly. "But you'll regret that."
"No doubt. I'm curious though, how would you react if I was a werewolf?"
She was silent for a moment before replying. "I suppose I would be surprised, but my behavior wouldn't change towards you, I think."
"Well I'm glad to hear that, I think."
"Oh hush." she said and swatted at his shoulder playfully.
They walked for the rest of the day exchanging banter until well after dusk. Although Whitland didn't admit it, he was utterly exhausted by the time they decided to look for a place to rest. Even if all they did was walking, at times he had barely caught himself from falling over. He didn't breathe a word of it to Serana however; she would only blame herself.
"That spot over there looks like a good place to stop for today." said Serana, interrupting his thoughts.
He wearily looked in the direction she was pointing, seeing five trees blur together in his vision before all forming into one. He blinked; perhaps Skyrim did have a few green giants in its countryside. The tree had to be at least fifty years old with its roots all gnarled and its trunk about four feet thick. Its branches reaching for the sky, it had to be one of the biggest trees he had ever seen.
"Looks good." he managed to say. By some miracle, he made it over to the spot with only a small stumble.
"Are you-" Serana started to ask, but she was cut off by a hiss.
There was a loud crunch of a twig and their attention snapped in its direction. Five vampires emerged from the shadows, their eyes appearing like torches in the darkness. "We're here for the bow." A female purred, clearly the leader of the group.
"Too bad, it's not going anywhere with you." said Whitland. Drawing upon the last vestiges of his strength, he drew his sword and allowed his fingertips to flicker with electricity. He heard Serana do the same.
"Then we shall take it from your corpse. I think I will find great pleasure in dancing in your blood." said the leader with a sneer. With those last parting words, the group attacked.
Just his luck, the blood thirsty female lunged at him along with a nightwalker. His palm flashed and an arc of lightning struck her accomplice in the chest. The creature fell down and didn't move.
He somehow managed to sidestep the female's attack and exchange a few blows, but he nearly collapsed when a red light descended upon him. He fell to one knee as his health was slowly being robbed from his body. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at the female with a fire in his eyes and in the back of his throat.
"YOL! TOOR! SHUL!" he roared, his eyes blazing; the strength of his thu'um causing the ground to tremble beneath their feet.
A barrel of flames shot out of his mouth onto the unsuspecting vampire before him. She yelped, and he was momentarily freed of the vampiric spell. He knocked down a stamina potion and started to hack at the female with fervor while she was still burning with heat.
Adrenaline coursed through his veins, making his body hum with energy, and washing away his exhaustion for the time being. The vampire weakly retaliated, but it was clear who was going to be the victor. Her body met the ground with a thud.
His gaze searched his surroundings to see how Serana was faring. He paid no attention when the vampire before him started to glow and pick herself up again. He knew it was only Serana working her magic.
He found her pair of gleaming eyes in the darkness. Out of the three vampires that had attacked her, two were left and she seemed to be finishing up on another. Soundlessly, he crept over to the currently unchallenged vampire from behind. His sword glinted in the moonlight and time seemed to slow down. He grabbed the vampire by the collar and slit his throat with the edge of his blade, each action occurring almost instantaneously.
There was a small sound as Serana killed the last vampire and its body hit the ground with a sickening plop. She whirled around just in time to see him let go of the corpse in his arms.
"Perhaps we should find a different place to rest for the night?" she asked, looking around at the carnage they'd created. The female he had killed earlier suddenly disintegrated into a pile of ash as the magic holding it left.
He nodded, too tired to speak. The sudden burst of energy from earlier was quickly making its departure apparent and he felt like he was going to faint if he didn't sit down soon.
They walked a little a ways from the sight, with him mostly dragging his feet across the dirt and the occasional stumble. He trusted Serana to lead them. It seemed like it took forever before they stopped.
"We'll rest here." she announced.
All he saw was a small cluster of trees, nothing like the one they had seen previously, before he let his knees buckle and collapsed on the ground with an undignified thump. His vision was fringed with blackness. Before he forgot, he swallowed a cure disease potion in case any of the vampires had infected him.
Serana sat down with much more grace and handed him another potion that he drank without question. He immediately felt better and had to work his mouth a few times to get it out,
"What was that?" Slightly surprised by how dry his mouth was, he was pleased that his voice still came out strong.
"It makes your stamina regenerate quicker. You seemed a bit pale after we fought the vampires; you looked like you could use a boost."
He nodded gratefully. "That one crazy chick took a lot out of me."
Her orange eyes observed him. "It appears so."
"Should we press forward and try to get to Fort Dawnguard before morning?" he smiled. "We'd be traveling by night as you wanted, or rest for the night?"
"Rest." she said instantly. He ran a quick eye over her, trying to see if she was harmed, but found nothing. That meant only one thing; she was doing it for him. He decided to ask her anyway, just to make sure.
"Are you hurt?"
Serana hesitated as if to think it over, which only served to increase his suspicions. "Yes," she admitted, "But it's nothing that won't heal itself."
"Let me see it."
She hesitated again, but seemed to realize that his magic wouldn't be affected by his present condition and obeyed his wishes. She showed him a rather nasty cut on her shoulder that had gone through her armor and had to be paining her. His hand went to hover above the wound and shone with a soft light as it made sure the mark had never touched her luminous skin. Their eyes found each other after he was done.
Serana was the one to look away first. "We should have someone keep watch. I'll do it," she said quickly when he went to say something, "I've been asleep for a few centuries, I think one night without rest won't kill me. Besides, I can see much better than you in the dark."
He nodded, too exhausted to protest such sense, and went out cold as soon as he hit the ground.